Latest Blogs from Vincent Finegan and "My Racing Story"

Stronger together

Last week the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) issued a statement announcing that the apparently toxic split within its ranks over Media Rights had been resolved and all 26 racecourses will now sign up to the deal brokered on their behalf by Horse Racing Ireland’s Media Rights Committee.

11.48AM

Charlie O'Dwyer

I’m 20 years of age and am delighted with the way things are going in my riding career. I’ve had four winners this season and had my claim reduced to 5lb after winning on Goodnightngodbless for James Motherway at Wexford last month.

9.19AM

Keith Clarke

I'm from Pelletstown, Co Meath and I got into racing through my family - my mother is a Geraghty, her brother Tucker is Ross and Barry's father. We were always riding ponies and going to riding school and it went from there. Barry took me pony racing one day and I got the bug, and I wanted more and more. I used to love going racing with a horse that had a chance and then leading in that winner. It was a buzz and I remember getting off school to go with my uncle Tucker for a winner in Kilbeggan. That probably gave me the biggest buzz to want to be a jockey.

10.27AM

Eoin Walsh

I’m 26 and from Banteer, which is near Mallow, in Co Cork. I was delighted to ride my fiftieth winner recently which reduced my claim to 3lb. It’s something that had been on my mind for a while so it was great to get it done.

2.00PM

Stewarding errors erode confidence in the sport

Last week the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) overturned two controversial decisions made by Raceday stewards two weeks earlier.

11.04AM

Pamela Ballantine

I'm from Belfast and I first got into racing through watching Grandstand (on BBC) with my mum, my brother and my wee sister on Saturday. We would all pick a horse, and nobody was allowed to pick the favourite, and it was sixpence in. Then I think we might have gone up to 5p or 10p and whoever's horse came closest to the front got the money! It was just a bit of craic and a very good way to spend a Saturday afternoon. My dad was out playing golf and thinking that his wife and children were up to nice pastimes at home.

3.01PM

What is the Social & Economic impact of Irish racing?

Last week Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) published a report into the social and economic impact of the breeding and racing industry in Ireland which it commissioned Deloitte to compile on its behalf.

10.00AM

Paddy Harnett

I turned 21 last month and am from the Co Limerick end of Abbeyfeale. If you cross the bridge you’re in Kerry and if you go out the road a bit you’re in Cork, but I’m definitely Limerick.

1.09PM

Media Rights money now linked to betting turnover

Last Tuesday was a watershed moment in the history of the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) with 5 racecourses breaking away from the other 21 in relation to Media rights for the sport.

10.40AM

Liam McKenna

I was born in Benburb, Co Tyrone and then I moved out to Blackwatertown about five miles out the road. My mum met James Lambe, my step-father. Some of my family are into horses, but James is into racing and I got into racing through him. If you ask my mum, I was into horses very, very young. Then when we moved in with James, he had a yard full of racehorses. I started off going point-to-pointing with my cousin Conor McKenna (former All-Ireland SFC winner with Tyrone and current Brisbane Lions player in Australian Football League). We would have gone religiously every weekend. Conor's father Pat is a trainer and he's my uncle. He would train as a hobby.

10.19AM

David versus Goliath

Can you work out this riddle? - A man takes his son for a drive in his car. The car crashes, the man is killed and his boy is injured. When the boy arrives in hospital he is taken for surgery. The surgeon takes one look at the boy and says “I can’t operate on that boy, he is my son.”

11.24AM

Kieran Callaghan

I’m 19 and from Old Leighlin in Carlow. I’m not from a racing family but some of my school friends were into ponies and I sat up on a pony one day and that was the start of it.

11.47AM

Record-breaking National Hunt season for Willie Mullins

The Punchestown Festival is a brilliant way to end the National Hunt season each year. A five-day long party that manages to achieve the right blend between the business, the sport and the fun of a day at the races.

9.58AM

Paul Flynn

I'm from Celbridge and my father was reared up in Moyglare Stud. He mainly worked in Ballygordon Stud (now Derrinstown) when I was growing up and I always went to work with him when I could. I just had a keen interest from the start. There was no riding or anything like that, just helping him out. I used to follow him around for a good few years until I met David Behan who was a jockey. He put me up on the donkey, so I started riding he donkey up and down the road. I went to David Behan every day after school then.

10.52AM

How much is a horse’s performance improved by the whip?

There was an interesting comment posted below my blog last week in relation to the Grand National protest that got me thinking about the whole whip issue and if it’s about time the industry did a proper study into its merits.

12.43PM

Diarmuid Moloney

I'm 24 and from Ardnacrusha in Co Clare. I'm based at home with my parents and twin sister. They wouldn't have had a great interest in racing before I started riding but they follow it closely now and are great supporters of mine.

11.42AM

Saturday’s protests a wake up call for the sport

For some reason the Irish as a nation struggle with the concept of protest. No matter how unjust or ludicrous Government policies are we prefer to grumble about it amongst ourselves rather than take to the streets in mass protest.

11.31AM

George Kingston

I'm from just outside Drogheda in Co Louth. My parents would have gone racing when I was young and would have had plenty of friends at the races, so that's how I started going. I started riding a pony for a local man, Maxie Collins, and he would be well known in coursing and greyhounds, and as a bookie at the point-to-points. Maxie always had horses and I started riding his pony when I was a child.

10.06AM

Records are there to be broken

The US Masters Golf was a great watch last week despite the persistent weather interruptions. The best golfers on the planet competing on one of the best courses is only a part of what makes the Masters so special. The myriad of unique traditions that are associated with the event are what really elevates it to its iconic status.

12.48PM

Mpumelelo Mjoka

I'm 26 years of age and from Durban and am called Mpumi by those who know me.

10.24AM

Betting Matters

The Dundalk stewards took an unusual course of action following a race at the track on Friday evening. They initially enquired into the improvement in form of the Charles Byrnes’ trained Miss Abby Jools after it won a handicap. This is standard practice and 99% of the time ends up with the stewards noting the explanations given by connections, but on this occasion they referred the matter to a Senior Racing Official of the IHRB for further investigation.

11.23AM

Neve Bennett

I'm from Newent, a town in Gloucestershire, England. I got into racing through my mother as she always had something to do with horses and there were horses on the farm that I used to go to. I was involved with horses from about 11 or 12. When I was older, I saw an advert up for the British Racing School in Newmarket, so I went up there and did the course. It was a good experience and I was glad to get a job after it.

9.47AM

Good luck to Bryan Cooper

The mandatory requirements of having to wear a helmet and back-protector and also having two ambulances follow you around while doing your job paints a clear picture of how dangerous the life of a jockey is.

11.37AM

Jack Kearney

I'm 17 and joined Ger Lyons last August as stable apprentice. They look after me very well and it's very exciting to be involved in such a top yard.

2.27PM

Hurdles or fences for Constitution Hill?

Last week’s Cheltenham Festival provided us with some amount of drama, stunning performances and shock results in almost equal measure.

2.26PM

Ruth Morrison

I grew up on a small farm in Dromore surrounded by horses. From a young age I had no real interest - there was always stories dad would come home from the hunt with about broken legs and cuts. So I thought I would stick with hockey. Mum was keen to maybe have a girly girl, she was keen on music or dancing. That was never really going to happen. Then as I got a little bit older, i got more involved. My dad was Field Master and Point-To-Point Secretary for the Iveaghs. I got involved in helping out at the point-to-points which i loved. I was selling racecards from when I was no age.

10.23AM

The best week of the year

Cheltenham is finally upon us. The build up seems to get longer and longer each year, but fortunately the Festival always lives up to the hype. The best four days racing of the year, bar none.

1.06PM

Aidan Kelly

I'm 21, was born and reared in Monasterevin and still live at home with my parents and my brother. They are all great supporters of mine and are the first ones on the phone when I have a winner.

9.34AM

An Absolute Freak

Barry Connell gave a very refreshing interview to At The Races last week about the chances of Marine Nationale in the Supreme Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham. Most trainers tend to be quite guarded about the chances of their horses ahead of these big races and end up using a string of cliches that leave you none the wiser to what they really think.

1.59PM

Paddy Orr

I'm from Blackrock, Co Dublin and my father was a bookmaker, so I started going racing with my dad when I was about 14 or 15. Watching racing with my dad, and coming home and getting the results on the radio sparked my interest in racing. I was on the box giving tickets to punters and helping to pay out if I could. I clerked for him from a very young age. I used to do a lot of point-to-pointing with my dad, which I absolutely loved, around the country especially around the south-east. That took me to working for several bookmakers along the way.

10.12AM

Disgruntled Punters

News in the Irish Times last week that Arena Racing Company (ARC) is in negotiations to buy Dundalk Racecourse has the potential to further complicate an already precarious Media Rights situation for the sport.

10.54AM

Richard O'Brien

I qualified as a dentist but it was always a lifetime ambition to train racehorses and I've managed to unearth some smart performers along the way. I took out a licence in late 2016 and am based in Ballingarry, Co Limerick.

2.54PM

Whipping up a storm

UK racing has really got itself into a proper old mess over the use of the whip and it’s all largely its own fault.

11.23AM

Elliott fine was appropriate sanction

Gordon Elliott ran 60 horses at the Cheltenham Festival last year and there were no issues with 59 of them, but that doesn’t matter to a significant cohort of the public who have been up in arms over a positive sample taken from Zanahiyr after the horse finished third in the Champion Hurdle.

12.39PM

Garvan Donnelly

We're all enjoying the journey with Final Orders and obviously he's been a revelation over fences. I used to train him myself and we schooled him once over fences at my place. The young lad who rode him said he'd never ridden anything like him over a fence.

2.20PM

Sandra Hughes

I was born and bred on the Curragh and my dad was Dessie Hughes the horse trainer. When I was younger, I got married and moved away to England, had children and returned home about 17 years ago. I came home with the three children and started working with my dad straight away. In the early days, I took a prominent role in the office on the business side of things. Then as the years went on, I would have taken more of a role in supporting him and going to race meetings and sales he couldn't get to.

10.11AM

12 years for Ronan McNally

I've been around horse racing all my life and at this stage it’s not too often that I’m overly surprised by anything, but Tuesday’s verdicts in the Ronan McNally Referral case certainly stunned me.

11.39AM

No stopping Willie Mullins

Willie Mullins hit his latest career milestone over the weekend when he trained his 4,000th winner. He is only the second Irish trainer to do so after Dermot Weld achieved the same landmark in 2016.

11.29AM

Robert Whearty

I'll be nineteen this year and am from Bellewstown in Co Meath. My first winner came at the local track and luckily I have a good strike-rate there. That was on Pretty Little Liar for David Dunne in July 2021 and was not long after I had taken out my licence.

9.46AM

‘Hay’ How are ya!

It’s great to see the racing industry coming together to support the ‘Hay’ How are ya campaign to raise awareness of mental health issues within the equestrian community and help eliminate the stigma associated with depression.

10.30AM

Jim Gorman

I'm from the Navan Road, Ashtown, Co Dublin and there were a lot of horses trained in the Phoenix Park at the time. When you were a kid going to the Phoenix Park races, it was very glamorous. It was a lovely way of life in the 60s. The course was idyllic, it was like old Victorian and beautiful, and it was very popular with Dubliners. They got big, big crowds.

10.05AM

Niall Moore

Gortnahoe in north Tipperary is my homeplace and I'm from a very sporty family.

9.40AM

Jack Kennedy deserves a change of luck

Jump racing can be such a tough sport. Jack Kennedy, who’s career has been blighted by injury, was flying on all fronts going into Sunday’s meeting at Naas. The 23-year-old was having his best season ever and was already 18 winners ahead of reigning champion Paul Townend in the race for the Jockeys Championship when disaster struck again.

1.28PM

Caroline McCaldin

I'm originally from Templepatrick, Co Antrim and my father Wilson Dennison has been into racing all his life, it is what we grew up with and were raised with. I evented and hunted all my life, and then had an accident in 2015 and was told I wouldn't ride again. I just didn't know what else to do, so I got into the racing. I had a good platform to start from with my father.

10.56AM

A Numbers Game

Leopardstown bucked the trend over Christmas with attendances over the four days up 6% compared to the pre-Covid numbers in 2019.

12.31PM

Mike O'Connor

I'm 21 and from the village of Curraglass in East Cork. We had ponies at home and my father started me off on them.

1.24PM

Andy Slattery

I'm from Cooldine, Killenaule and have been here all my life. My father was a jockey and he used to keep a few point-to-pointers. We had six stables at home. When I was young, he used to ride out for Adrian Maxwell and I used to go down with him and ride out at lunchtime when I was 11, 12 and 13. Then I did one season pony racing, I used to stay with John Egan up in Ballinasloe and rode about eight winners.

10.40AM

Suspending trainers’ licences

Following hot on the heels of the Ronan McNally case the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) issued two more Referral Committee Hearing results last week. Trainer Lee Smyth had his licence withdrawn for three months and fellow trainer Gearoid Brouder had his licence taken away for twelve months, with the last six months suspended.

1.21PM

Eoin Griffin

I'm from the village of Slieverue in south Kilkenny and we're only a few miles from Waterford city.

11.03AM

Ronan McNally Case

Last week the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) released the results of a two year investigation into the affairs of trainer Ronan McNally.

10.36AM